“New Hampshire Nine” Status Conference featuring Footloose

The “New Hampshire Nine” are a group of peaceful people who largely didn’t know each other that were arrested in October 2021 at a meeting of the “executive council”. They were arrested on victimless “crime” charges like “disorderly conduct”. Here’s video of their last court hearing where a crazed bailiff threatened “Absolute Defiance” founder Footloose in the lobby with video cameras.

Today, the nine and a courtroom packed full of supporters were back at Concord’s district court for a short status conference. During the hearing, Footloose was charged with additional counts of “disorderly conduct”. Now, in addition to the disorderly charge that kicked off the NH9 arrests, where he was sitting quietly in the audience, they are charging him with ANOTHER disorderly for speaking loudly in protest while he was being arrested. Further, he’s being hit with a disorderly and “breach of bail” for speaking in the hallway at the Legislative Office Building in November.

Stay tuned to Free Keene for more on this developing free speech case.

Here’s the video of today’s hearing:

Footloose Sentenced for “Disorderly Conduct”, Goes Off on Court Goons!

At the end of December of 2021, Frank “Footloose” Staples was put on trial for “disorderly conduct” for allegedly speaking “too loudly” outside NH governor Chris Sununu’s house. The robed woman at Exeter District Court in Brentwood, NH found him guilty and scheduled a sentencing date, which was today.

Here’s the full video of the entire hearing, where Footloose goes off on the court goons, getting much louder than he did outside Sununu’s house. He also outright refused to pay the fine and demanded he be put in jail instead – the robed woman ignored it and left the court. Enjoy!

Jay Noone vs DCYF Goons

Recently some busybody reported Jay Noone’s family to DCYF when his wife Shalon allegedly went into a store and left their 2-year-old strapped safely into a carseat with the car running. The meddling family-destroying goons dropped into the Noone’s “Domestead” in Henniker on Friday to try to search the premises. Despite showing Jay a written threat from a robed person, Jay refused to allow them in and wisely recorded the encounter. Stay tuned to Free Keene for updates.

Here’s the video of the encounter:

Copblocker Defeats Keene Police Charges for Fleeing on Motorcycle While Underage

Alexander Short

Local Snitch, Alexander Short of Swanzey

In 2016 we featured a video from then-eleven-year-old Mikey Gordon as he shut down a state trooper’s speed trap in Alstead. In the Summer of 2020, at age 15, Mikey was arrested for allegedly refusing to pull over while riding a motorcycle in Keene, leading police on a high-speed chase that ended near Rt 12.

According to police, the then-unknown motorcycle operator ditched the bike and ran into the woods before police were able to catch up. Fortunately for the cops, a local snitch, Alexander Short – the owner of Short’s Detailing at 58 Forest Ave in Swanzey – approached them and told officers he knew who the operator of the motorcycle was, as the two had been hanging out in the Target parking lot the same night. The snitch placed a phone call to Mikey’s cell phone and officers were then able to locate and take him into custody, ultimately returning him home to his parents’ house.

Months later, Mikey was subsequently charged with two misdemeanor counts: “disobeying an officer” and “operating without valid license”. The first count was charged as “class A”, which could result in up to a year in jail and the second count charged as “class B” which could be a large fine. The Keene Police prosecutor offered a plea deal which would have dropped the class A charge in return for his guilty plea on the class B with the punishment being a 30 day loss of license and $620 fine plus $720 suspended on condition of good behavior. Now-seventeen-year-old Mikey heroically refused the plea deal and took the charges to trial earlier this month:

After the state presented its case, Keene district court judge Patrick W Ryan took the case “under advisement” and complimented Mikey, telling him, “you did a good job”. It was Mikey’s first time in court and he appeared pro-se, defending himself without the help of an attorney.

Normally, when a robed man takes a case under advisement it is a good sign that the verdict will not be “guilty”, because usually they are hesitant to deliver a not-guilty verdict in front of an audience and cameras. Judges are likely to issue more favorable verdicts when the cameras are off and no one is around, and that is exactly what happened in this case. Actually, the charges were “dismissed” according to the case file, which means Mikey wasn’t found “not guilty”. Dismissing charges after the trial has finished is an unusual result, but it’s still a solid win for the teenage Cop Block activist.

Observers reported that the snitch Alexander Short laughed and told Mikey outside of the courtroom to “have fun in jail”. Who is laughing now? One benefit of taking charges to trial is the police have to put snitches – or any undercover agents – on the witness stand to make their case, whereas if the defendant takes a plea deal the snitch is protected from public view. So now everyone knows that Alexander Short of Swanzey New Hampshire is happy to throw his friends under the bus and rat them out to the police for victimless crimes.

Congratulations to Mikey for his victory!

Update: New NH HB 1025 Aims to Limit Witnessing Police

This bill would give police the right to tell any person they must stay back at least 30 feet.

 

A new bill was introduced to the NH House on January 5, 2022 that, if passed, could have serious, far-reaching consequences for 1st amendment auditors and anyone attempting to witness or film police interactions in New Hampshire.  

Introduced by Rep. Al Baldasaro (R – Rockingham 5) and cosponsored by Rep. David LoveRep. Vanessa SheehanSen. Sharon CarsonSen. Bob Giuda, and other Republicans, the bill attempts to add an 11th section to Chapter 642 of the Criminal Code; (642:11 Impeding or Provoking a Law Enforcement Officer.) 

Update

NH HB 1025 was presented to the New Hampshire House Committee on January 19, 2022. Committee members voted unanimously to recommend ITL (inexpedient to legislate) status for this bill. Nineteen of the 21 members were present, with a final vote in favor of ITL: “Yea” – 19 votes; “Nay” – 0 votes; with 2 not voting. You can view the vote in the video below (48:35 – 52:10.)

(more…)